Ore-breaking device



' March 28,l 1939. R, s, TICE l2,152,108

ORE BREAK ING DEV I C E Filed March va, 1936 ATTORNEY. v

n machine adapted to reduce ,Patented Mar. 28, 1939 l .j 'UNITED'A S'I'TE'S,v PATENT OFFICE s 2,152,111.81*

v omi#'mit:Almas:DEVICEl Reuben Sg. Tice, Monterey, Calif. Application Maren e, raadsel-.m1 No. cusst 7 claims. (cl. s3- 11) A'I'his invention relates kto ore-breaking devices in which ore is reduced from relatively large ,chunks or pieces to substantially powder form 4for classifying and further treatment toseparate 5 the values therefrom. I v. v One of the objects of theinvention is to pro-l vide a simpleQsmall. eilicient` andl reliable devicel ofthe character described capable of continu?? ously-breaking ore in largey quantities with little v wear on the parts thereof. Another object is such device in which the broken or powdered ore is automatically blown from the machine when reduced to predetermined Asized particles, and s a further object is the device .of the character 1| described'that isreasily and quickly assembled and disassembled and in which replacements can be quickly made as may ,become necessary.

Other vobjects and advantages will appear in thel speclcation and drawing annexed hereto. In thedrawing, Fig. 1 is a sectional view of aportion of my device. as seen of the device indicated by line I--l of Fig. 2fwith part of thecasing broken away .and part of the device in section to show the internal construcvgg'tion of the device. f n

f Fig'. 2 vis a sectional view of a portion of my `device takenalong the line 2--2`V of Fig. 1, .the motor being shown chute being shown in dottedline to indicateits 30 position relative to the front of the casing although the section linev is taken beyond the chute.

Fig. 3 is a reducedl diagrammatic representation of the device ofFlg. l to, show the operation of the device in reducing ore to substantially "u powdered form.l

Fig. i is a reduced `elevational view, partly broken away, of a slightly different arrangement e,

` inches in diameter, mymachine willhandle 21/2 v4'oi feed and discharge means. a

lBriefly described, my invention comprises a bearing -orc, up

fier or forfurther treatment for removingthe f values therefrom. By rmy m'achinethis breaking up of the ore is accomplished by providing do provided through d' side of the casingfbr feeding ore thereinto so that the ore will be ejected vr'into the casingin front of the revolving hammers lto be struck by the hammers and [knockedv 'against' a peripheral-wall ofthe casing. lThe 'il peripheral wall of the' casing against which the from thev sidey in elevation and they feed` peripheral wall.

chunks ,of lvalue-- n to say several-.inches in diam-y eter, to powdered form for blowing into a classi-v .e

planes. v

ore is knockedis formedftoy deflect the ore back to a position -in front .of the hammers so that the ore will again be struck by the'hammersto strike the peripheral wall and again be thrown intoy the pathI of thehammers and so'on until 5 the ore lis reduced to powder flneness and blown outthrough" avscre/en and into a pipe leading to a'cla'ssifier or kother device as may be desirable, the casing, hammers and position of the feed. means injecting ore into the ycasing .being ar` 10 ranged so that the revolving hammers act .as a blower for blowing the powdered ore intothe'powder discharge pipe,and out,the shaft mounting the hammers being rotated from A1600 to 3600 R. P. M., preferably about 1800"R. P. M.v for 'ordinary 15 value bearing quartz. Bythe hammers striking rthe ore against a rebounding surface,-theore is slowed up atPeach rebound into the path of the .hammers so that a succession of sharpv blows are deliveredV to the `ore in its progressfaround 20 lthe casing, r'and at each blow on the ore'by the. hammers and each striking` of thev ore against the peripheral wall of the casing, the ore is successively subjected to further shattering so'Y that a chunk of ore dropped intoA the feed line 25 "and injected into the casing is reduced to powder yalmostinstantly and discharged from `the casing. There is no grinding or crushing action in my machine, as by forcing the ore between rollers, balls, or between such rollers, balls or hammers andthe walls of a casing or between each other, since there is a clearance oiapproximately" 11/2` inches between` thehammers and In actual tests, using ya ik" mesh perforated metal screen overlthe discharge 'g opening and feeding hard chunks of -quartz ore linto themachine from about 3A .inchto several` tons of such material'per hour, all of whichwill pass through the screen'and over 90% `of which' 40 isy in kcondition for further treatment by the ilo- 4'tation processjfor"removingv the' values there-I from. f y v Y Ink detail my device as shown in the drawing comprises a generally drum-shaped housing having opposed end walls I, 42, and a plurality of flat, straight sides 3, six 'of such sides being shown in ther drawing, said sides being arranged in hexagonal form, hencedisposed in `different The end wall 2 is 'removably secured. by bolts 4 to flanges 5 extending inwardly from the sides around the housing and gasket `6 is disposed Abetween the end'wallZ and flanges 5 to provide an air-tight seal betweenhthe sides 3 and end altares wall 2, the sides 3 and end I being cast together or formed integrally.

Plates 1 of manganese steel, or the like, are removably secured against the inner surfaces of walls 3, which plates have apertured bosses 8 formed therein that extend through openings n the walls 3. The plates are held in place by bolts 9 extending through the bosses to the outer sides of walls 3, said plates 1 being formed on their inner sides with recesses I0 for receiving the heads of the bolts so said heads will not project outwardly of the inner surface of said plates, but will in fact lie inwardly of such surface and hence not be subjected to excessive.-

wear. Annular clamping members` I2, and nuts I3, are at the outer ends of the bolts 8 outwardly of the walls 3, the clamps being washer-like members engaging the outer surfaces of walls 3 whereby the nut outwardly of the clamping member when screwed up will draw the plates 1 and members I2 tightly against opposite sides of the walls 3. c

The drum-like' housing in which plates 1 are se# cured is about 36 inches in diameter, although this may be varied to suit conditions, and the end walls I, 2 are about 6 to '1 inches apart, thus the housing is of relatively small thickness as compared to breadth.` The housing may besupported directly on a foundation or base, or end wall VI may be tightly bolted to the flanged end of a motor housing I5 by bolts I6, the motor proper being indicated at I1, and thereby supported from the motor which in turn is supported on a suitable base I8. u

Shaft IS of the motor I1 centrally extends through end wall I to within the drum housing. Within the drum housing and secured on the outer end of shaft I9 is a hammer supporting disk or spider 20 formed with four equally spaced projections 2I around its periphery to which hammers 22 are pivotally secured at the inner ends of the hammers by bolts 23.

The hammers 22 are relatively heavy and elongated in a direction radially of the shaft when swung outwardly under centrifugal force kwhen the shaft is rotated, and when idle they are free to fall,-but between the projections 2| of the spider are smaller projections 24 adapted to support the uppermost hammer or hammers as indicated in dotted line at 25, when the machine is idle preparatory to starting.

Hammers 22 are spaced from one to two inches at their outer ends from plates 1 when in'radially extended position and are rounded at their outer ends in the plane parallel to the ends of the drum,

lbut square in the plane normal thereto. The opposite sides of the hammers lying adjacent the end walls I, 2 are substantially parallelto the Y This shape also contributes to the giving of the ends and spaced therefrom. The outer ends of the hammers are enlarged slightly to give greater weight to the outer ends, this enlargement being accomplished bythe hammers being progressively thickened from about their pivotal points toward the outer ends so that their opposite faces lying in a direction transversely of their path of travel extend divergently inwardly from the outer ends of the hammers toward the axis of the shaft.

desired deflection to the ore adapted to be struck by the divergently extending faces of the hammers and also whereby the ore will be struck a sharper and more forcible blow than were the ore striking sides to extend parallel and radially of the axis of the shaft. Y

The inner ends of the hammers are slotted, as

at 26, to receive the projections 2l of the spider therein and the sides of the hammers are recessed at opposite outer sides adjacent the slot to receive therein the one-headed end 23' of bolt 23 and a castellated nut 23 at the opposite end of the bolt, the hammer being journaled to pass the bolt and a bronze bearing or bushing 21 being pressed into the opening through projection 2| to form a bearing for receiving the wear of the bolt. AThus Athe bolts including the headed ends and nuts thereon lie below the opposite sides of the hammers and are not subject to detrimental wear from the ore.

`'Il'heend 2 of the drum housing carries a vertically or upwardly extending feed pipe 28 formed with a feed hopper at its upper end and opening at 29 at its lower end through the end 2 into the housing at a pointadjacent thelower corner of they housing past which the hammers will first pass on descending when revolved about the shaft axis in the direction of the arrow indicated in the drawing. l

The opening 29 is slightly spaced inwardly from the sides 3 and plates 1 toward the shaft axis and radially inwardly of the circle described by the outer ends of the hammers in revolving around the shaft. T'he lowerA end 30 of pipe 28 is inclined at` about a 66 angle so 4that material being dropped -into the pipe `will be deflected by the lower end 30 to directly within the path of travel of the hammers at the outer ends of the latter, and the material consequently will be struck a sharp blow by the oncoming hammer.

In Fig. 3-the general action that takes place within the drum housing when the machine is in operation is indicated, the ore 3l in chunks up to several inches in diameter, preferably about one inch, is struck a. blow by oncoming hammer 22.Y This blow not only shatters the ore to a certain extent, but deects the ore against plate 1' again causing a shattering of the ore, which rebounds to position 22"' where it is again struck by the hammer andfurther shattered, and so on around the drum, each blow by the hammers, and plates 1, causing a further shattering of the ore. It isf important to the result that there be at least from 5 to 7 straight sides to the drum, preferably six sides, since a greater or lesser number of sides reduces the efficiency of the machine in thata greater number too closely approaches a true cylinder and a lesser number does not give the necessary breaking surfaces.

The peripheral side of the machine on the side of the shaft in `which opening 29 is positioned, and substantially above the opening, is a discharge opening 35 over which is fitted a per- `forated plate 36 and extending from said openone of the fiat upper sides of the housing closest to the feed opening 29 since when the machine is in operation, the heavier ore particles will strike about the center of the plate 1 and not the screen or perforated plate, thereby reducing the possible undue Wear on the perforated plate. the powdered material, indicated at 38 in Fig. 3, is blownr out through the screen and discharge pipe 31 and anyheavier particles that might not be sufficiently broken to pass the screen will fall into the path of travel of the hammers again passing around the machine. The shaft mounting the hammers is rotated preferably at about 1800 R. P. M., hence a strong bloweraction is arcaica created by the hammers. theair enteringcwith the ore radially inwardly oi. the sides of the housing. It kis of course obvious'y that the, motor may be replaced by` a pulley and belt driven from a motor and thel shaftmountin'g'the hammers extended through opposite ends of the housing and mounted in bearingabut' the preferable construction is as described, being compact andeliminating the necessity for additional bearings.-

The hammers and plates'lmaybe quickly and easily examined, replaced, or repaired byl rel moving end 2 and screen or'perforated plate 36 can be replaced byv finer, or coarser mesh, or 'a7 new plate or screen, as desired, butA a5 mesh screenis found to be satisfactory for most work.

AIn .the discharge pipe 31, a feed back pipe 3l' is shown to prevent any particles of a size not l readilyblown t0 the classifier from 'iillin'g'the pipe 31, since the heavier particles will roll backy by gravity into the pipe corner of the cover plate l' or the perforated plate may be omitted in this form of device since the material will all stay in the housing until broken into impalpable powder.

While the breakage of material in this form of device is more complete than in the form shown in Fig. 1, the capacity of the mill is somewhat lessened, but further classifying becomes unnecessary, hence this loss is fully compensated for. ,Y

Having thus described by invention, I claim: l. A device for reducing relatively large pieces of ore to substantially powder-like iineness comr prising a polygonal-sided drum-like casing having at least six abutting sides and having opposite Vend walls and disposed with its end walls sul stantially vertical in which casing the sides thereof are flat and substantially of the same dimensions, a shaft co-axial with the central horizontal axis of the casing that passs centrally through the end walls o the casing, said shaftrotatably extending through one of said end walls into the casing' and a single row only of hammers within the casing secured to the shaft and radially extending therearound in a single vertical plane' centrally of the casing for revolving with the shaft upon rotation of the latter the hammers extending closely adjacent-the end walls of the casing, said hammers being spaced substantially equidistant at their outer ends from the central portions of said sidesof the casing when said hammers are ln radially extended position, the space vproviding said clearance beingl of a width radially of the drum axis to substantially prevent grinding of the relatively large pieces of ore between the sides and hammers, an outlet for the powdered ore in one of the sides of thevcasing positioned in the upper half thereof and an ore inlet for relatively large pieces of ore to be reduced to powder form positioned adjacent one of the lateral sides of the hammers closer to said axis than the outlet whereby the powdered ore will be blown out of the casing through the outlet by motion of the hammers. y

2. Ore-breaking apparatus compnsing a horlzontally disposedshaft, an annular row of similar sized, substantially equally lsuglaced, elongated hammers-on said shaft,A said hammers extending ra'diallyrelatlvev to .the axis of the shaft and mounted'thereon, a stationaryv polygonal-sided drumLlikehousing enclosing said hammers, said housing including oppositeend wallsat opposite lateralv sides of the row of hammers disposed rela'- tively close to said lateral sides, the sides of the housing being made up of a plurality` of fiat plates each being planar and said plates connected end to end and extending acrossthe outerv ends ofthe hammers ofthe row and equally spaced there-y from and from the axis of the shaft whereby upon revolutionof the hammers around the axis ofthe shaft, saidA hammers will successively/*clear each of`said plates by substantially the samedistance, means for" revolving the hammers. around said axis, and'each of the hammers having a substantially fiat `.strik-.ing surfaceon the side facing the direction of movement of the hammers of a width extending the major distance between the opposed inner sideseof the opposite end Walls of the housing, an ore inlet tc within the housing and au ore outlet for discharging ore therefrom.

3. In a construction as defined in claim 2, said outlet being disposed in one of said nat plates on the upper half of the casing and offset to one side of the axis oi said shaft in the direction of rotation of the hammers positioned above said shaft during revolution of the hammers about saidaxis and the casing sides and -ends being substantially imperforate and substantially hermetically sealed except for said inlet and outlet.

4. Ore breaking apparatus comprising an annular row of similarly sized and shaped, substantially equally spaced, elongated hammers extending radially outwardly from ak central horizontally extending axis in a single vertical plane, means mounting said hammers for simultaneously revolvingY around said axis, the outer ends of said hammers terminating at substantially equal distances from said axis whereby their outer ends will describe a common circular path upon revolution of the hammers, a stationary, polygonalsided drum-like housing having at least six sides enclosing said hammers, said housing including vertically disposed end walls substantially parallel to the plane of the row, said end walls being positioned on opposite lateral sides of the row of side walls of said housing being flat planar and l connected end to end with each other to substanwtially enclose the row of hammers and'disposed a substantial distance outwardly of said circular path at equal distances therefrom, whereby said hammers will successively clear each of the inner fiat surfaces of the side Walls by substantially the same distance when the hammers are revolverl.

5. In a construction as defined inclaim 4, said hammers each being formed with substantially a the direction of movement ci the hammers, said surface being of greater length longitudinally of the hammer than the width thereof and an ore inlet in one of the end rwalls of housing positioned for feeding ore into the path of travel ci said 20 hammers for revolving in a circularpath about a hammers at a point adjacent their inner ends, and an outlet for the broken ore disposed in the upper portion of the housing close to said inlet but rearwardly thereof relative to the directionof rotation of the hammers, and all the walls of said housing being imperforate and arranged to sub.

stantially prevent ingress or egress of air to and from within the housing except through said inlet and outlet whereby ore pulverized by said A central axis with the hammers extending longitudinally thereof radially outwardly of said axis, said hammers each having a at substantially planar striking surface from substantially end to end thereof facing in the direction of revolution of the hammers, said casing including a plurality o fiat and planar ore deilecting plates arranged in a row in end to end relationship extending completely round said circular path and radially outwardly of said hammers with their flat inner sides facing and substantially spaced equal distances from said central axis and from the outer ends of said hammers when the hammers are revolved about said axis, the lateral sides of said casing respectively being positioned relatively close to the opposite lateral sides of the hammers of said row, an lore inlet in one of the lateral sides of the casing and an ore outlet in one of said plates at a higher elevation than the ore inlet. REUBEN S. TICE. 

